Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 78:56-64
Ps 78:56-64
56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. 57 Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. 58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. 59 When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely. 60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. 61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. 62 He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. 63 Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; 64 their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.
Acts 17:29-31
29 “Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
What a glorious opportunity God has given each person today in Jesus Christ. We can be forgiven for all we have ever done against him and we can be counted as righteous before him. And one of the most wonderful things about this is that God does not offer his mercy or his grace grudgingly. God loves each person on the earth so much that he was willing to give his unique eternal Son to come to earth and live as one of us, to be rejected by us and then to give his perfect life as a substitute sacrifice on our behalf; for our sin. What he requires of us in return is that we trust him and give our life to him – putting him and his righteous ways first in our lives so that we become more like him each day.
As he died for us, was buried and rose from the dead to never die again, we die to our sin, we are buried with him in baptism and then the new person is raised from that grave of water free from sin. We then have his Spirit to live in us to aid us and lead us in his wisdom as we live in obedience to him and his word.
O God, my heavenly Father, I am so thankful for your love for me, for your mercy shown to me and for your grace in giving Jesus to die for my sin. As I see his life lived in perfection for you and I see my own life so far from that perfection, I see how much I need your continual forgiveness and cleansing. Help me to be as loving and forgiving toward others as you are toward me. Use me to help those who are hurting and struggling to live for you. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
